mastitis or engorgement? and how to stop it in its tracks..

[whenwillisleepagain]

My DD had a bit of a feeding blip yesterday evening, fine since early this morning, but by the end of this afternoon, one boob is really uncomfortable. I don't have a temp, so am hoping not mastitis. Half the boob is full of blackcurrant sized lumps and pitted - it's the half up towards my armpit IYSWIM. The other half is fine.

Have been offering it to DD and she's been feeding off it, and I've done hot flannel and about an hour of hand expression, followed by hot shower and some more expressing. It's improved a bit but not hugely. DD is 16 days old, but I bf my son a few years ago and had much better success at getting this type of situation sorted. Shall I just keep doing what I'm doing? I have got the breast pump out of its box, very reluctantly, but had idea that hand expressing better.

Thank you!

I'm not sure but sound like its engorged. This used to happen to me a lot in the early days of feeding. A hot shower and lots of shower gel,soap or oil and massage with your fist gently towards the nipple, with the shower spraying your boob. You will probably get lots of milk coming out,( it used to spray across the bathroom!) but it works and is such a relief.
I hope this helps

it sounds like blocked ducts and then milk building up behind..best thing to do is what you have been doing..but try different positions for feeding dd, also after you have fed her, express some more from that breast with the pump so the breast empties properly..you could also try massaging the lumps down towards the nipple as you feed

There's plenty you can try. Kellymom as always is excellent.

For me feeding feeding feeding was the only way.

thank you all. showofhands good reminder about kellymom, I'd forgotten how useful it is

whenwill.. it does sound like blocked ducts and like you, having bf my ds absolutely fine i found feeding my dd quite an effort (for the first few months with one bought of mastitis, but sure that won't happen to you ) but just wanted to say that i tried to use a breast pump to relieve things on several occasions and it really didn't help much once the ducts were blocked and became painful and frustrating. Anyway, i hopee things improve for you but if you get any sign of a temp and/or your breasts become red then do get to the dr promptly.
I also saw a bf counsellor after a few weeks of hassle and she said i was doing everything fine, it just seemed to take time to get things sorted. All the best

I had this problem in the first two weeks and got mastitis..I soon discovered that at the first int of blocked ducts/engorgement etc..best thing to do was just keep feeding whilst massaging the breast..baby is better than any breast pump.. no harm in expressing after a feed though to empty the breast

Please do keep feeding, and try to feed your daughter with her chin at the lump. At her age, I think the only way to do this is likely to be to lie her down on the bed, and you hover over her. But feeding 'chin to lump' really really helps.

thank you everyone for replies. All well so far. On the night I posted, I did some hovering over her and then slept with DD next to the affected side so she could feed off it all night. Whwn I woke up I had a normal boob again and it was so wonderful! Have now put breast pump away, as I totally agree with you, no way can it be as effective as a baby.